Day 15: Interpreting Scripture (2025)

God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day fifteen. We're reading paragraphs one oh nine to one fourteen. Just before we get started, I'm using the Ascension edition of The Catechism, which includes the foundations of faith approach, but you can follow along with any recent Version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Also, to download your own catechism into your reading plan, you can visit Ascension Press.com/slash CIY.

And lastly, you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily notifications. Also, I said lastly, but here's what I mean by lastly. Just a quick thank you to all those who have supported the production of this podcast with your prayers and financial gifts. It's it would be it would be impossible to do this without you. Um but here we are, day 15. We are we've passed the two-week mark.

And you guys, this is one of those things where I'm just so, so grateful that we're journeying together in this way because you know it's different. It's different as we said before. Um, but here we are as a community once again saying, I want to learn more. God, I want you to reveal yourself even more because he's revealed himself, obviously, through sacred scripture, talking about that today, and sacred tradition, but so often we just we don't know.

And so this is such a great gift to be able to be in the place where we are right now, literally right now, to be able to just dive more deeply. So In the past, meaning yesterday and the day before, we were talking about here's how God has revealed himself fully, right? He his fullness of his revelation is through his son. And his deeds and his words.

that gets committed to writing in some ways, sacred scripture, and committed to the pa handing on sacred tradition and it interpreted by the magisterium. Okay, we got that. We also talked yesterday about how, um, God wanted to reveal himself to us and he is um spoken one single word, one utterance with in whom he expresses himself completely. And so we just we venerate Sacred Scripture, right? And we recognize how truly inspired and how true sacred scripture is. Today we have

We're gonna talk about how the Holy Spirit is not only uh the inspirer of sacred scripture, but the interpreter of scripture. And so here's how do we as Catholics interpret the Bible? That's so important. And and here in just paragraphs 109 to 114, We're gonna be given some real basic principles. In fact, there are going to be three criteria for interpreting scripture in accordance with the Holy Spirit who inspired the scripture. The first is we need to be attentive.

to the content and unity of the whole scripture. So basically, the whole Bible, we don't just take out one piece. We look at the whole Bible. Secondly, we read the scripture within the living tradition of the whole church. So not just scripture, but also the fathers of the church. sacred tradition, all those. And thirdly, we have to be attentive to the analogy of faith.

And so those are the three criterion that we'll look at uh in order to interpret scripture correctly. And those are the three criterion that criteria? Criteria. Yeah. Those are the three things that are gonna be spelled out in today's section. So here we get. Let's get started. Let's say a prayer. Heavenly Father, we are thank you so much. We're so grateful. We are so grateful for you that you are

And that you reveal yourself to us, that you reveal the depth of your heart to us, that you gave us your only beloved son so that we might not perish, but that we could have eternal life. And you give us your Holy Spirit. To guide us and and to continue to guide us into all truth. Lord, help us. Help us to to read the scriptures according to your spirit. Help us to to live according to your spirit so that we can pray according to your spirit.

And that we may, by your will and by your gracious gift, Dwell with you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for all eternity. We make this prayer in Jesus' name, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. As I said, it's day fifteen. We're reading paragraphs one hundred nine to one fourteen.

The Holy Spirit, interpreter of Scripture. In sacred scripture, God speaks to man in a human way. To interpret Scripture correctly, the reader must be attentive to what the human authors truly wanted to affirm and to what God wanted to reveal to us by their words. In order to discover the sacred author's intention, the reader must take into account the conditions of their time and culture, the literary genres in use at that time, and the modes of feeling, speaking, and narrating then current.

as The Verbum says, for the fact is that truth is differently presented and expressed in the various types of historical writing, in prophetical and poetical texts, and in other forms of literary expression. But since sacred scripture is inspired, there is another and no less important principle of correct interpretation without which scripture would remain a dead letter. De Verbum states that it is this.

Sacred scripture must be read and interpreted in the light of the same spirit by whom it was written. The Second Vatican Council indicates three criteria for interpreting Scripture in accordance with the spirit who inspired it. First, Be especially attentive to the content and unity of the whole Scripture. Different as the books which comprise it may be, Scripture is a unity by reason of the unity of God's plan, of which Christ Jesus is the center and heart open since his Passover.

Saint Thomas Aquinas once wrote The phrase Heart of Christ can refer to sacred scripture which makes known his heart closed before the Passion, as the Scripture was obscure, But the scripture has been opened since the passion, since those who from then on have understood it consider and discern in what way the prophecies must be interpreted. Second, read the scripture within the living tradition of the whole church.

According to a saying of the Fathers, sacred scripture is written principally in the Church's heart rather than in documents or records. For the church carries in her tradition the living memorial of God's Word, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives her the spiritual interpretation of the Scripture, according to the spiritual meaning which the Spirit grants to the church.

third, be attentive to the analogy of faith. By analogy of faith we mean the coherence of the truths of faith among themselves and within the whole plan of revelation. Okay, there we are. As I said, paragraphs 109 to paragraph 114. Um, okay, so let's go back to 109.

Once again, the the church is reminding us in sacred scripture, God speaks to us in a human way. And that's just so important, right? Remember we highlighted this yesterday. The author of sacred scripture is the Holy Spirit, and the author of sacred scripture is the human author. They are both truly authors. Now that might seem like a contradiction. It is not. It is a paradox. It's a mystery. that they're both the human authors. But here's to w understand this, to interpret scripture correctly

We must be attentive to what the human authors truly wanted to affirm and to what God wanted to reveal to us by their words. So we have to discover the sacred author's intention. And that's and that's so important. Um we have to keep that in mind. Why? Because we realize that scripture transcends cultures, it transcends time. It goes, you know.

There are phrases that you and I will use in the course of our daily lives that if you were to translate them into another language, it would be nonsense, right? It would be gibberish. there's also things that that other languages like they're called idioms as as one example, right? There's in other languages, if you try to translate that into English, it just it seems like, What are you saying? We recognize that here's sacred scripture.

which is written over essentially a two thousand year time period. I mean, going back to Abraham four thousand years ago and Jesus two thousand years ago, that's what we're talking about now, you have It's spanning cultures. You span it it you have it spanning generations. You have this recognition that the human author is going to be affected by their culture. They're going to be affected by uh the the modes of feeling and speaking and narrating then current.

So, as the Averbum stated, the fact is that the truth is differently presented and expressed in the various types of historical writing, in prophetical, poetical text, and other forms of literary expression. So not only do we have to take into account the human author's intention and like their time period and whatnot, but also what is the literary genre of this? So as the as the kind of maybe big example I could give is Genesis chapters one through eleven essentially are prehistory.

And then twelve to the end of Genesis are are they're giving us a history. But prehistory is gonna be really, really unique. So Genesis one and Genesis two are a true account of the creation of the world. That's that's the reality. It's a true account of the creation of the world. Now At the same time, it is

Is it a true biological account of the creation of the world? Well, no, that wasn't the Sacred Author's intention. Was not to give a biological account. It was to give the substantial account, right? It was to give the the reason account. Like why did God create the world? Who created the world?

In the case of the early chapters in Genesis, the question that science asks are what and how. The questions that faith asks are also who and why. And so keep that in mind as we're reading scripture at the same time. So we try to discover the sacred author's intention.

And I love this because the church continues by saying, but, and that's important, the big but, since sacred scripture is inspired, meaning it's not just the sacred author. It w sacred author is not the only author. The other author is the Holy Spirit. So since sacred scripture is inspired, God breathed, right? There is another and no less important principle of correct interpretation, without which scripture would remain a dead letter, and it's this.

Sacred scripture must be read and interpreted in the light of the same spirit by whom it was written. So we recognize that there was a human author. And there is a divine authority. And so yes, we have to interpret this like, okay, so Matthew says this and Luke says this other thing. Well, I can you can account for some of those differences by difference in the temperament of the individuals, a difference in their knowledge, difference in their cultures they were coming from.

'Cause Matthew is Jewish and Luke was originally a Gentile. But the main author or the the other full author is the Holy Spirit. So we must read and interpret. all the books of Scripture by the light of the same Holy Spirit. And so here's the three three criteria for interpreting Scripture according to the Holy Spirit. Number one, be attentive to the content and unity of the Holy Scripture. What that means is

that we never isolate one text and say, okay, this is the definitive thing. What I mean by that is we never take a text out of context. And that's just really, really important. In fact, every text is read in light of every other text, right? The whole Bible is seen as a unity. So yes, 73 different books with a bunch of different authors.

But the Holy Spirit is the divine author who authored all of them. So again, when you hear the Bible, when you read the Bible, you can sometimes really get the flavor of wow, this is a different human author. That's true. But it is always the same divine author. And that's true. So we always have to read every text in light of the whole. That's just so important.

Um, secondly, we read scripture within the living tradition of the church. And that is so, so important. Because what do we me what do we mean by that? Well, it means that we don't read scripture on its own. We don't believe in this idea of uh scripture alone because Scripture didn't come out of nowhere. It came out of the tradition of the church. And as we've talked about many times, Saint Paul wrote

Hold fast to the traditions that you are taught, whether by written word or orally, right? So both spoken by us or written down by us. So we realize that sacred tradition and sacred scripture are both incredibly valuable, not just incredibly valuable, but essential. And so we always read scripture within the living tradition of the church. That's kind of like those fence posts that I was talking about a couple of days back.

Third, we're attentive to the analogy of faith. And that's that's one of the ones that one of those statements that we can say, okay, what is analogy of faith? And we're going to end on this. So the New Catholic Encyclopedia talks about this. It says originally that word analogy is a mathematical term. The Greek word means proportion and was borrowed by philosophers to refer to the relationship between concepts of things and

that are partly the same and partly different, right? So we know that's what analogies are. They're partly the same and partly different. But it means proportion. So This goes back to Romans chapter twelve, verse six. Saint Paul, when he was writing to the Romans, one of the things he says he says, Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them, if prophecy in proportion to our faith.

So that term proportion, again the Catholic Encyclopedia says the Pauline injunction is given that this gift of prophecy must be exercised according to the proportion of faith. Right, we said that already. No prophet is to be accepted who proclaims anything opposed to the one faith proper to the one body in Christ.

such preaching would be out of proportion to, or beyond, the objective truth entrusted to the Christian community. And so and so what what that is, is it it highlights the fact that every article of faith, every truth in the faith is in relationship to every other truth of the faith. Meaning I cannot come up with a new interpretation that's contradictory or Out of line or disproportionate to the other truths of the faith. They all have to be um

One, they all have to be harmonious, essentially. So going on, the News Catholic Encyclopedia says, the analogy of faith, therefore, has always been associated with the one unchanging faith of the church. it is closely related to the notion of tradition, and soon became a norm for the early Christian writers. They saw a quote unquote proportion

in the manner in which the New Testament complements the Old Testament and in which each particular truth contributes to the inner unity of the entire Christian revelation. Okay, so I know that that can sound so uh jubble like you know, word salad time, right? What I'm trying to say, what the the church here is trying to make clear, is that all of the articles of faith are in proportion or are in relationship to every other article of the faith.

And in that relationship, in that proportionality to each other, There is never going to be one that cancels out another. So when we read scripture, we always read scripture in proportion, right? We always read scripture in light of everything that we believe.

Scripture, tradition, and the mis magisterium have revealed. So these three Three criteria, right? We're attentive to the content and unity of scripture. So pay attention to the whole Bible. We read scripture within the living tradition of the whole church. So um we recognize that the scripture is written principally in the church's heart, not just in documents and records.

And thirdly, we're attentive to the analogy of faith, meaning that while we read scripture, we always keep in mind all that God has revealed. in scripture, in tradition, and through the magisterium. It's it's kind of a way of just being able to say, just like we mentioned before, here are those those guardrails, right? Here is is that fence that's around that that island that's jutting out of the ocean. Stay inside these

And you can just run and explore and play and dive deeply into the scriptures. I'm mixing my metaphors here, but but that's what we're trying to say when we talk about these three criteria. Um it's so good. The three criteria of interpreting Scripture according to the Spirit who wrote it, as well as

Trying to discover the sacred author's intention. This is just a gift. I think it's so powerful that when we have these tools and these criterion for being able to uh interpret scripture and being able to dive deeply because that's what, oh man. It's what it's it's what gives us that freedom to be able to just open up the Bible and say, I'm not gonna be steered wrong, right? I'm not gonna be.

brought off track because I'm being attentive to all three of these criteria and I'm and I'm just reading it from the heart of the church. And that's just such a great consolation and such a great comfort and gives us such great confidence. So with confidence, I hope that you and I can dive into scripture today and for the rest of our lives. And I I'm I'm I want to let you know that I am praying for you. Uh please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.